Music
by spongecake 2
Summary: A series of one-shots which are prequels to Stockholm Syndrome. Don't expect it to be ANY good whatsoever. Not great summary, though not great one-shots, either, really.
1. Says So Much

**Music**

**By spongecake2**

**Author's Note: I had actually been planning to do a sort of prequel to Stockholm Syndrome for a good while now, but I couldn't really think of that much. It's only a series of one-shots based on the OC's. I'm not sure if I'll think of one for each OC, so I'll just do the one's I can. Few bits and bobs, here and there. Let's start with an easy one. Mr Drive, the main bad guy, dude, person. Set around the time of Tekken 3, just before it. Embarressingly short. I'll try to make the others a bit longer, but I did this at about... really late. Read and review.**

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Says so much

_Why should the devil have all the good tunes?_

**Rowland Hill, Inventor of the Penny Black Stamp**

I slowly pressed a key on the piano. The note resonated all along the main study. It was an interesting sound. I smiled. The beauty of the sound made its presence known. I pressed the key again. Another echoing note. It wasn't really that high. Next to middle C. I played a little tune. C sharp, E and G sharp. And again. And again. My left hand crept over to play the bass notes below middle C. Moonlight Sonata. Says so much with so few notes. A knock on the door. I looked around. A young woman had invited herself in. Long, auburn hair, brown eyes as pure as crystal. Her denim trousers reached the corner of her ankles.

"Good evening, Miss Chang." I said to her. "Just playing a little tune. Know it?" I asked her.

"Of course." Michelle answered. "Moonlight Sonata in C Sharp Major. Who doesn't know it?" Her innocence radiated from her. I smiled to her. She had sort of 'moved' here by Heihachi's request. Apparently, she might know something about that weird incident in Mexico a few short weeks ago.

"So..." I asked her slowly. "Heihachi's been grilling you with questions?"

"Yeah." She replied. "Though I say that I don't know."

"And _do _you know?" The question raised in me. She looked at me. It was one of those weird looks. The ones which look as if they care for you more than anything else.

"Yes." She said simply. "But I trust you more." I nodded to her. She pulled a necklace from under her shirt. "This stone was at the wreckage. My tribe found it, but we don't know its origin." She sighed. "That's all I know. The rest is legend and myth. I would like to say more, but I can't." I looked at the obsidian like blue sparkling star. It showed amazing beauty. I looked to Michelle.

"I'll keep it from Heihachi." I said to her. She then did something I didn't expect her to do. She kissed me on the cheek. I stroked the cheek as she looked out the window. I looked to the piano.

"Why are the rich never punished?" She asked me. I walked ever closer to the piano. "Heihachi has so much, and has done so little for the good of mankind." I looked at the reflection in the smooth wood of the piano. A deadly smirk crossed my lips. "Why do the passionate fall folly to the wicked? Why do people like you and I lose with everything we do?" I guessed what she was getting at.

"I think I have an answer." I said, lifting the lid, and placing my hand between the strings. Michelle looked to me. I looked back, pulling my hand out. "The world works very... oddly." I walked over to her. She looked suspicious. "You have to work with it. My parents died when I was young. I took revenge in details which may scare you."

"Like what?" Michelle's voice whispered, where once caring trust was, now was anxiety.

"Four hundred died." I said. "I was after one." I started to laugh. She looked horrified. "Deceit, my dear, is far easier to achieve than one might think." I placed the tranquiliser syringe that was in my hand to the nape of her swan like neck. She dropped like a stone, her face carrying a sorrowful look of shock with it. I whistled. A Crow by the name of Bill walked in. He tripped over the sleeping girl. He managed to punch a huge hole in the floor. "I'll do it myself." I sighed. I picked up the sleeping girl. "Moonlight Sonata." I murmured to the sleeping girl. "A song which resonates betrayal and loss. Says so much with so few notes." Then I threw my head back and laughed.

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**Yes, yes, yes, I know there was next to no humour in it, yet I put it as Angst/Humour. Well, they'll be a lot more in later ones. Other than that, not much to say. Volley of Bullets is going down the drain, still, and I seriously am thinking of doing a collab work with someone else, though not sure how... oh, and also, for those who can draw a lot better than me (i.e. everyone) I'm quite interesting in what you think the OC's would look like. Please, PM me your drawings of them so I can post them and say I drew them. Anyway, thanks for reading.**


	2. A Qualified Table

**Author's Note: Hey ho. I decided to give Heihachi a go for the POV. This one is very much on a light tone. Not really much to it, just a little bit of a light read with no story of any kind. If you can guess from the quote which OC I'm writing about now, give yourself a hug. Read and review while you're at it.**

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A Qualified Table

_You don't need any brains to listen to music._

**Luciano Pavarotti, Tenor**

The first time I met Bill was one that I'd never forget. I had walked out of the Zaibatsu, and there he was. I had heard Mr Drive had promoted another Falcon to make a Hawk soldier, but this guy was a monster of a man. He had an appearance that would make volcanoes think twice before erupting. Short hair, blank expression of pure stupidity, and HUGE BODY. I looked to Mr Drive.

"Is it safe?" I asked him. He smiled back sadistically.

"If he was, I wouldn't have given him a promotion, Mr Mishima." He replied. I looked back to the part-man part-brick shit-house. He was leaning against a lamppost which slowly gave way to his weight. I looked to him.

"Hello?" I asked the beast. He smiled back.

"Hello." He said. The voice was deep, but didn't sound threatening. The lamppost lowered onto the road. A motorcyclist was knocked off his bike and landed on his back. The whale man looked to the scene, before looking back. "Hello." He said again.

"You've just said that." I pointed out. The man-thing thought for a while.

"Hello." He said a third time. I rolled my eyes, and turned to Mr Drive.

"What's his IQ?" I asked him. The reply: A shrug of the shoulders. Oh brilliant. Just bloody brilliant. The newest Hawk is an idiot with the subtlety of a snarling bear. "Any form of intelligence?" I asked Mr Drive.

"With that strength, Mr Mishima, does he need any?" He asked me, his smile growing. He was enjoying this, I could tell. I turned back to the lumbering whale-man, who was now lying down, seeing as the lamppost had now gone completely horizontal.

"Where did he come from?" I asked Mr Drive without looking.

"Not sure." My second in command answered. "His plane ticket which got him here was from Canada, but there are no records of his existence there... or indeed _anywhere_." Mr Drive explained. "He seems to have simply appeared out of nowhere. The only lead we've got on his identity is his trainer... err... accomplice, Fritz Coster."

"Where is this Coster?" I asked him. Mr Drive looked confused.

"In front of you, sir." He said. I looked around. Nobody was there.

"Ok." Came a German accent. It sounded annoyed. I looked down on a very small man, who was under my eye level. "I'm short. That doesn't mean you have to take the piss." His goatee and red bandanna flickered in the wind. I bent down on my knees.

"Where did you meet... this?" I asked, pointing to the monster.

"Canada." The man replied. "He was in a bar working as a qualified table." I raised an eyebrow. "You heard right." The small man said. "That's all I know." I looked to the huge skyscraper like man. He had fallen asleep. "Yeah..." The german midget seethed. "... he does that." I clicked my fingers in frustration. Suddenly, the man woke up. He rushed over and stood to attention. I looked to the german. "I taught him that." He said, clicking his fingers as well, before pointing to a small food stall. "Fetch." He said. The man-whale-thing walked over to the stall.

"What would you like, sir?" The stall owner asked. Up went the stall, so delicately, and so gently. The man looked shocked. The huge whale-dude gently placed the stall near me. The german smiled.

"A Frankfurter with tomato sauce." He looked to me. I tried not to laugh. I seriously didn't. But I couldn't help myself. I turned to Mr Drive, and pointed to the man the size of Jupiter.

"Give this idiot a promotion!" I laughed.

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**Yeah, not really any point to that, was there? Just a pointless little thing. I should be able to write more, but I can't really be that bothered. Oh well, just felt like it. Reviews, worship, confessions of love and money are all excepted... Next up... errr... whoever. Make requests, please. **


	3. Blood Red Rose

**Right. I had a piece of inspiration. One one-shot follows onto the other. This one is about Benni and his life as a teenager on the run. I'm going to play a bit more with alternate viewpoints. Read and review, thank you please.**

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Blood Red Rose : Part 1

_Life is like music; it must be composed by ear, feeling, and instinct, not by rule._

**Samuel Butler, not quite sure what he did. I think he was a poet, though don't take my word for it.**

**Fritz's POV**

"Of course I'm in pain, Bill." I explained tiredly. "I've been thrown out of a window three storeys up. It tends to hurt." Bill didn't seem to grasp this generally important piece of information, and therefore he decided the best course of action would be to stare blankly at me. However, another hand helped me up.

"Here you go, Fritz." Came the soothing voice of Benni's sister, Liz. I thanked her quietly, hiding all the emotions bursting up inside of me. I refused to admit to those feelings, but... they were there. The thing is, I'm a lot older than she is. A _lot _older, and yet, I couldn't stop thinking about her. It was hard to shut out all feelings for her. She was my best friend's sister, anyway. Off limits in any circumstance, and we've already been into the paedophilia aspect.

Ok, maybe not. She's nineteen, but considering I'm thirty five, that's still pretty bad. But still, a wash of colour wipes over me when I see her. I could be so miserable that I don't know what I'm doing, and she could always make me feel happy. God, I need somebody to hit me and regain my sense of age.

And then, out of nowhere, somebody hit me with a brick. When I looked up, it wasn't a brick. It was Bill's elbow, as he swung around to watch a large van go by. I slowly felt my consciousness slipping away quickly.

**Benni's POV**

The phone rang and rang and rang as I lay in a drunken heap on the floor. Wasted out of my mind, smashed out my senses, oblivious to all emotion, I slowly pulled myself as the phone chanted its irritating tune. I didn't drink to forget, as many people would think. My parents had been disgraced enough by forest animals walking over their graves, unknowing of the horrible events that had taken place. I drank to wash out the pain. The searing pain that hammered itself into me. I was ready to put it back on the hook as soon as I had lifted it, but as I pulled it off its resting place...

"Benni, thank god." Liz's panicked shuddering passed down the wire. My sense perked out of the drunken haze instantly.

"I'm listening." I said. My sister always came first for me. What could've happened to her? A fight? An attack? A rape? What?

"Fritz is in hospital." Came the answer. I sighed.

"Oh thank god." I murmured. All too loudly.

"What?" Came a snarling anger. I tried to redeem myself.

"I said 'Oh my god'" I lied. She seemed not to believe me, but for her, priorities were a lot higher.

"Listen, can you come to the hospital?" She asked desperately.

"Why?" I asked her. "He's been in hospital loads of times. How did Bill do it this time?"

"Swung his elbow round." She replied.

"Exactly." I said. "Fritz has been knocked out. No big deal. He's been shot, stabbed, set on fire and hung, and he got past all that." A 'humph' sound, and the phone was hung up. I sighed. She was always stubborn. Sometimes, caring for her would get tough... and violent...

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"_Come on, Liz!" I shouted. "It's not too far!" Her nine year old had clasped mine and she pulled herself into me, with my help._

"_How far do we have to go for?" She asked. I looked up the rocky outcrop._

"_Not far now." I replied, my own eyes filling with tears from the strain. "Just a few miles more."_

"_A few _miles?" _She screamed. I hushed her._

"_Quiet, Liz." I said. "They'll be on us if we aren't careful."_

"_We have to stop." She sighed. "I'm too tired to go on."_

"_We _have_ to go on." I reminded her. "Those bandits. The ones we stole from. They're not like the villains from TV. No holding the children hostage, no chance of escape. They'll kill us if they catch us." Liz didn't seem to grasp the information._

"_No more." She said mercifully. I lifted her onto my back and turned. Three grotesque figures, one burly, muscular and large, another, smaller but nimbly, and a third, holding a vicious looking sword, stood there, silhouetted by the moonlight._

"_Too right, little boy." The smallest said. I got my mother's blades out, and thrust one into Liz's hand. She looked scared._

"_Whatever you do, don't give in to them." I said. If she ran, I'd be alone, and they'd catch her anyway. She might as well die alongside me, and we could at least take one out too. The largest gave out a fierce punch. Missed. Another fist, this time from the smallest. Missed. I waited as the largest sent his fist back at me, and I struck his approaching hand. Two quick slashes, and his forearm dropped... not attached to the rest of the arm. My heart beat like a bass drum as the man fell to his knee screaming. Gore splashed everywhere. I turned to the one with the sword. He went from a hammer blow, and our blades collided. My arm was thrown down by the force, and I was forced to the floor. The swordsman forced the blades closer to my neck._

'_I'm about to die.' This was all I could think of. All thoughts of reason washed away. I looked into the man's eyes. He wasn't here to do anything but kill._

_Then I had an idea. I kicked his shin. He grunted. I pulled myself up with his own hand, and brought my fist to his cheek. His jaw snapped due to the momentum. We were both covered in blood. I took advantage of the confusion to slash his stomach and force him back. He fell to the floor out like a light. Then another, larger force came across the back of my collar. The largest plucked me off my footing and dragged me into the sky. He prepared to throw me down._

"_Time to die, kid." He grunted. I looked to the black spiralling abyss. It filled me with horror. Then my instincts took over. I waited for my highest point to be reached. Then I slashed the hand away. The man growled and dropped me. It was a mistake on his part. I kicked his back, and watched as his tumbling body smashed on the rocks below. As if my ears weren't already destroyed by the blood rushing through them, a panicked scream of a girl echoed._

"_LIZ!" I shouted, and turned. I saw the smallest man, hand raised, ready to hit my sister. However, instead, he dropped lifelessly. A great knife wound was in his chest, and Liz held out her knife, shaking, her hand red with blood, tears running down her face._

"_Oh my god." She sat down and burst into tears. I walked over and soothed her back. "Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod." She murmured as I held her close. The rain started to fall in a torrent suddenly. We sat in the cold, me comforting her, her holding me for security. We both needed each other to survive. To keep sane. To have somebody to say goodnight, to have a feeling of security._

_CRACK!_

_I turned my head and looked to the body above. The lightening cracked again, this time showing the swordsman, who had a red hole in his forehead. He dropped to the floor lifelessly, revealing another, taller figure with a pistol behind him. He walked over to us. He bent down. An old man, with great protruding spikes of hair either side of his bald head._

"_Mr Drive!" He shouted. A smaller man came from behind. "Get these children in the helicopter." The smaller man walked away. The old man stared deep into my eyes. He looked hungry. Hungry for power, and glory._

"_I can see you by my side, little boy. What is your name?" He asked._

"_Benni Julius." I said. "This is my sister, Alizee._

"_Hello, you two. My name..." He stood up for effect. "... is Heihachi Mishima. And you are amazing fighters, especially seeing as you're... what, sixteen and nine?"_

"_Fif... fifteen, Mr Mishima." I answered. He looked astonished. He bent back down to my level._

"_Have you ever heard, Benni Julius..." He said. "... of the Tekken Force?"_

"_No." I replied._

"_You will. You'll be part of it." He answered me back._

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I took a deep breath, and another sip of cider. Heihachi was right. I didn't let the whole thing get to me. It was survival. Instinct, how life should be lived. No wishy washy morals. No strict restraint rules. Just brutal instinct, joyful feelings and cautious ear. To think, if we hadn't killed those men, we'd be dead, and Liz wouldn't have met Fritz.

Yeah, I knew she had the hots for him. Though I know that they'll never get together. No way in hell was that going to happen.

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**Yeah, I'm using italics. I did draw a picture of Benni and Liz one time, but I'm not quite sure how to get it on the Internet, because I don't have any form of... yeah. Anyhow, read and review. Well, you have read it, so forget it. Part two will be up in........... as soon as I write it. **


	4. Rain

**Disclaimer: COOKIE!**

**Hey ho. I did a stupid move: I'm mixing past tense with present tense. ARGH, JESUS CHIRST DIDN'T KNOW I WAS DOING IT UNTIL HALF WAY OH GOD NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!**

**So, anyway, here's a nice feel good one shot between Fritz and Liz's POVs. Read and review.**

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Rain

_Little Wing is like one of these beautiful girls that come around sometimes ... you play your gig; it's the same thing as the olden days, and these beautiful girls come around... you do actually fall in love with them because that's the only love you can have. It's not always the physical thing of "Oh, there's one over there ...", it's not one of those scenes. They actually tell you something. They release different things inside themselves ... "Little Wing" was a very sweet girl that came around that gave me her whole life and more if I wanted it ..."_

**Jimi Hendrix, guitarist... well done for guessing, Mr State-the-Obvious**

**Fritz's POV**

The bullets ripping from my pistol, the air parting to make for them, made their way to their target. Liz made a sweeping movement to the floor, dodging them only just. She replied with her own volley of bullets. They smashed into my body. My whole form juddered as Benni walked into the room. He sighed.

"I thought you were both _older_ than twelve." He said. "Pretend gun fights aren't really the first thing I think of when I get out of the hospital bed."

"You play it as well, Benni." Liz taunted.

"I don't." Benni denied it. A pause. "Not in public." He murmured afterwards. Liz punched him on the leg.

"Lighten up." She smiled, pulling herself up with her brother's arm. He tried to pull it away from her grip, but she fell onto him. He growled, refusing to catch her and walking out of the door. Liz contacted the floor, shock rippling across her body. She had been expected to be caught. She seethed. I ran over and held her forearms to lift her again.

"You alright?" I asked her. She nodded. The skin of her arm was smooth, and my coarse hands appreciated the feeling. I lifted her to her knees, as she helped me with the effort. Then our mouths were parallel. She stopped helping. I stopped lifting. We looked to each other's eyes. Her wide, blue, inquiring, innocent eyes reflected my rough, piercing, brown, fearful eyes. She smiled slightly. I didn't until she twisted my goatee slightly. The intensity rose, as did my blood level. Then a crashing noise.

"Hello." Said Bill, brushing splinters from the door off his suit. I looked up to him, snapping out of my trance, and rising with Liz in my grip. She caught her footing, smiled pleasantly at me and walking away. I looked to Bill.

"What do you want?" I asked him.

"Somebody's stolen the rubbish." He said. I promptly hit my head against the wall in frustration.

"Are you completely lacking brain cells?" I asked him angrily. He stared blankly at me.

"Marmalade!" He shouted. I sighed.

"Brilliant. Just bloody brilliant." I said irritably. "I'm attracted to a girl who's at least sixteen years younger than me, her brother's completely emotionless and my best friend has all the intellect as a spoon. Things are going just brilliantly today!" I kicked the wall and left, while Bill just stood there blankly. Storm clouds gathered over my emotions. Convenient metaphor... it started raining.

**Liz's POV**

I contemplated the events that happened in that hospital room, hidden in a small tree, obscured by the leaves and branches. I couldn't think as to what had happened. Something just seemed to overcome me. I bit my lip in thought. It wasn't unusual to fancy somebody older than yourself. How many twelve year old girls looked upon Johnny Depp with lust? Countless. But that was something different in the hospital room, a sort of... what was it? A rush of passion, though however slow...

... I refused to say I loved him. I mean, come on, we're good friends. That's it, and that's as far as it will go. Fritz feels exactly the same way, I'm sure...

_Ahhh, but how sure are you on your __**own **__feelings?_

Bloody conscience. Always contradicting whatever I tell myself.

_Yes, Benni will need his bike back._

_No, that cake isn't yours, so put it down. I said... oh, now look!_

_Of course the chair was expensive, so why did you go and break it, you stupid bitch?_

Though, this time... I can't believe I'm saying this... the little annoying voice in the back of my mind is right. I don't know how I feel about Fritz. Emotions were rocketing around like a monstrous set of fireworks, screeching and screaming across the night sky. I looked up to the unfair heavens as the clouds began to darken.

"Oh piss." Came the irate mumblings of Fritz. He ran over to a tree for shelter. The tree that I had climbed up, and where I reside now. "Piggin' rain raining all over the piggin' place, the piggin' stuff." He muttered to himself as he sat down. I didn't speak English that well, though he had been teaching me, so I leant forward to hear him. I clearly leant too far. I fell onto his miserable lap. We grunted in pain together. He then looked to me. He smiled. "Hey there." He said.

"Hi." I replied, somewhat reluctantly. I tried to hide my embarrassment, and failed.

"It's easy to fall out of trees, Liz. Don't feel too bad." I sighed in reply. I decided to come clean and get it out the way.

"About... what happened in the hospital room..." I started.

"Oh, that." Fritz said. "I'm not sure what happened either." He said. "So let's forget about it." He smiled to me. I thought about this. It would work out. Everything would go back the way it was...

Or did I really want to forget it? To forget the feeling of intense passion? To forget what it was like to lose yourself? I stared Fritz in the eye. I caressed the nape of his neck.

"No." I said. He smiled wider, and brought his lips unto mine.

A week later

**Liz's POV..... again...**

I sniffed the rose that Fritz had sent me as Benni and I walked through the park. Benni was scowling at me.

"Another one?" He asked. "The next rose your bloody boyfriend sends you, I'll stuff it down his throat." He looked up. "Speaking of which, where is the tosser?" I turned to him quickly.

"Don't say that!" I said. A strand of hair flowed over my eyes. "You'll see him in a minute." I brushed the hair back as Benni huffed. I looked forward. Fritz walked over.

"Hey Benni." He said. He turned to me, his smile growing. "Hey Liz." He said quietly, softly.

"Yo, Fritz." Benni said. "Have you seen Liz's boyfriend? I want to smash the living daylights out of the bastard. Hey, you could help." He smiled to me. I opened my mouth to say something, but couldn't think of anything.

"Yes, I have." Fritz answered. I looked at him, raising my eyebrow. "He's small, got blonde hair, is wearing a bandanna, and has a goatee." He said while smirking. I smirked too.

"Great." Benni said, walking past. "I'll find that bas....tard." He had the look of calculating thought, followed by rising anger. He turned to me and Fritz as we locked hands. He tried to think of something to say. "I want my bike back, you know, Liz." He scowled, before storming off.

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**Yes... right, ok. I **_**have**_** done pictures of Benni, Liz, and most recently Fritz, and I even have them on my computer, but the brick wall of a problem I'm facing now is how to stick them up on here for all to see and point and giggle at my poor attempts at manga. If anybody has ideas, or indeed pictures of their own (they'll be a lot better than mine, I can tell you now) then please, do... something... that'll involve PM-ing me. Drawings of Bill, Mr Drive and Takeshi would be awesome, because I'm too lazy to draw them. Thanks.**


	5. Volley Of Bullets Preview

**I couldn't think of anything to end this whatsoever, so I just thought, 'screw it' and then made a Volley of Bullets preview. I know, I know, it's a shameful and pitifully bad thing to do, but I'm fresh out of ideas. I'll try not to give too much away, though I probably will anyway. So, here goes. Read and review.**

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**Heihachi's POV**

The tournament bar where I once owned was rank with the odour of alcohol and cigarette smoke. The tournament hadn't even started, and already, it was filled, newcomers as well as old fighters, some going back to the tournament's foundations. I looked around from the cover of my hood with scorn. I didn't enjoy the fact that I had _my own bar _to drink at, but now Kazuya was sat in it, laughing about how he had managed to kill me with his goons. Or, even worse, Jin. Well, I'd take my company back, even if I lose this tournament. However, last time I did, Kazuya was expecting me, so there was no point in hiding. This time, I'll have to be more elusive. I sat down with the beers in either hand. I passed the one in my right to the man opposite, who was lazily scratching his eye.

"So, my Italian friend," I said to Benni as he sipped his draught. "... what brings you here?"

"Kazuya." He said, his voice hoarse due to the incoherent screams of hatred that had bellowed through his lungs from the previous night. "I've told you already."

"Ahh, yes, I'm so sorry for your loss." I replied. I wasn't really. In fact, two people going after Kazuya would mean it would be far easier to defeat him. Lucky me, I suppose. Benni shrugged his shoulders, his hood sliding slightly further down his face. His scowl died slightly.

"Just another reason to gut him." He said, as he looked up. His deadly, piercing eyes bore like drills into my head. I could tell he hated me as well. For what, not really sure. Maybe he simply looked at everyone in this way. Whatever, I drank a measure of my beer.

"So, what are you going to do when it's done?" I asked him. He let a knife fall from his sleeve. It clanged on the table, echoing across the room. He looked up.

"Sorry." He murmured, sliding it back. Then he looked again. "Wait a minute." He stood up and walked away. I followed. He seemed to be in a hurry. I quickened my pace. As we walked, I could hear a thumping sound, over and over and over. Benni must've recognised that noise, for he sped up even more. Eventually, there was an almighty shatter. We found the source. Splinters, concrete and debris lay across the floor like confetti. We looked up. A towering figure stood there.

"The door's broken." Bill said. What made him look even more idiotic was the fact that the door was in fact a few short feet to the left of him, and he hadn't actually managed to distinguish the two. Benni smiled.

"Like a hound without its master." He clicked his fingers and walked away, Bill following. Nobody in the corridor got in the way.

**D's POV**

The feeling of freedom as I made my way through the undergrowth of Osaka's outskirts was relieving. The independence took a mountain of weight off my already heavily burdened shoulders. The low lying fog was enough to hide me as I crawled along the floor. Where I had learnt to move this fast, I don't know. However, I'll soon learn if I had anything to do with it. My hand then felt a squelch in the mud as it descended slightly.

"Mud doesn't make that noise." I thought to myself, taking the hand out of the festering manure. I placed my other hand on the floor to balance me as I wiped the hand that hit the manure. There was manure there too. I looked in front of me. It was a pit of fertiliser and shit and all things foul. I bit my lip and looked behind me. To my horror, I saw a torch light. I bit my lip irritably. So, the Kazama girl had decided to follow me. I looked to the pit. Surely I wasn't that desperate?

"C? C? Where are you?!" Came Asuka's voice. "If you're having trouble controlling... your other side, then we can help you." Right, I thought. Head first, in I go. "Please, come back! I want to help!" Hopefully, she hadn't noticed as the stinking fester wash over me, concealing me from sight. It was then when a little voice in my head began to stir.

_Whrrr... that Feng dude packs a punch... hey, where are we?_

**Shut up. **I told the voice. **I'll explain later. **I decided it would be safe to poke my head up. My head bobbed up right behind Asuka. If I reached out I could probably clasp her leg, but I didn't want to do anything stupid... unlike my alter-ego.

_You escaped, didn't you? _He said angrily. _Why? WHY?! WE WERE HAPPY THERE! WE WERE SAFE!_

**We were stuck. Trapped. **I replied. **If we muck about playing psychologists and pyromaniacs, we'll get nowhere. **I hated the situation I was in, stuck between two working minds, not knowing anything that had happened before all that. What did I have to remind me? Nothing. No name, no friends, nothing. You'd think there'd be some form of scar or a tattoo, but nope. Nothing. Simply burn marks, and most of them were from C messing about with a cigarette lighter. A sudden movement caused me to look up. Asuka was pacing in thought.

"Where is he? Where is he?" She muttered. Something fell out her pocket. She looked to it. So did I, through a bubble in the crap. Horror of horrors, I begged for her not to notice its importance. The thing that caused my greatest fear...

It was a cigarette lighter.

She picked it up. She slowly observed it and seemed to formulate a plan.

"How to get a pyromaniac to come closer." She said.

_Yes, yes, light it! _

"Please don't." I whispered as her thumb threw itself down the gear. The yellow flicker burnt its image into my brain.

_**My eyes filled with fire, my body aflame, smoke rising and surrounding. I screamed for mercy and cowered away. Everything was red and orange. I begged for safety. Embers were thick in the atmosphere; the ash flung itself across me like hideous confetti, a wash of amber covering my vision. Pain came like a bucket of icy water, though simply made the embers more intense. Then Asuka turned the light off and reality returned.**_

Then I realised what I had done. I had given myself away. Asuka looked to the pool of crap that I was hidden in and, due to the vision, had added to. She bent down on her knees.

"C." She asked as she extended her hand. "If you need help, please come along. I want nothing more than to help you."

_Please, Miss Kazama. Save me from this pain..._

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" I screamed, thrashing out at her hand. She pulled it back as I emerged. She bit her lip in fear. "I AM SICK AND TIRED OF YOUR TETHERS, AND YOUR COMPASSION, AND ESPECIALLY THESE FUCKING STUPID PYJAMAS! I MEAN, COME ON, WHO WEARS RED PYJAMAS IN THIS DAY AND AGE?!"

_I like these pyjamas, though. _I wasn't quite in the mood to reply to this.

"ALL YOU'VE EVER DONE IS HOLD ME BACK AND KEEP STUCK IN AS IF _I'M_ THE VILLIAN, THE ONE WHO INVADED C'S MIND!" I let all my fury out. "YOU TRIED TO LOCK ME AWAY AND THROW AWAY THE KEY BECAUSE HE'S TORMENTED BY ME! WELL, I'M TORMENTED TOO! BY HIM! BY YOU! BY FATE! BY THE FIRE!" I breathed heavily. Asuka's fear seemed to be replaced by determination.

"If you won't let C go..." She slipped into her fighting stance. "I'll just have to release him myself!" Her fist was thrown towards me. I didn't have time to block, and was once again flung into the pit. I sat up in pain as she jumped up and sent her right foot for me. Blood shot from my nose as I was pulled out of the pool by the energy in that attack. I came into contact with the ground to see Asuka rush to me for another assault. I rolled to the side as her foot came down to bear on me. As I got up I forced my own fist down onto her shoulder. She bent down in pain. As she did, I brought my forearm up, smashing her face and sending her onto the floor, foot over head. She landed on her front and screamed.

"What's the matter?" I asked her. "That all you have. Your father hasn't been teaching you a great deal now, has he?" I knew her weakness. She was hot headed, and hot headed opponents make mistakes. I would have to taunt her at every opportunity. She pushed herself up onto her hands and knees, but she was in pain. I sent my leg to her ribs. She rolled over. I smiled as she winced. Then she rolled back. I expected her to stand up and charge. Instead, she bull charged me. I fell back, and then looked to her again.

Left, left, right, left, kick to the shin, knee to the groin.

"ARGH! YOU BITCH!" I shouted, throwing my fist towards her. She blocked it with ease and threw me over. I hit the ground with a thud. "Ooh, I'll take that back. You're _so _much harder to fight than your dad was!" I said, seething in pain. She sent a bolting uppercut into my face.

"Don't bring him into this!" She screamed. Aha, I thought. An opening.

"Well, maybe he was a bit bruised up after the fight with Feng, but, really, so was I, so they cancel each other out, I suppose." I carried on taunting. Another flurry of fists was sent my way. I managed to block the last one. I trapped it and threw it around my body, keeping my feet firmly still. Asuka's body arrived at my legs, and I placed my foot on the lower of her spine. Then I forced it down. She screamed, her pain contorting her face which was now wet with tears. I forced the foot further down onto her. Then her hand whipped out and grabbed something. I looked at her hand as she relit the lighter.

**NO NO PLEASE GOD NO!**

I fell back in horror. Her hand whipped around as the flame caught a bare flash of skin as my trouser leg flew up in the attempt to escape her body. It didn't hurt much, not at all, but everything around me flew up. I couldn't see for the flames in my head, which burnt through all my senses. I collapsed, and curled up in a ball.

_Let me go! _The other voice told me. I snarled.

**She'll lock me away! She'll take me back to the doctor! He'll give me tranquilisers! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!**

_She won't. _The voice died down. _I ask her not to. Let me go, and I'll take the flames away. _I could hear the flickering embers rising. _Please. _I could take it no longer. I gave full control back to C, as I fell away into the black. The soothing, numb, comforting black...

* * *

**Errr... yeah. This is pretty early on, so I've not stuck this bit in the middle or anything stupid like that. Oh, also, on my profile, I have links to my pictures. (I've only done Fritz and Liz, because Benni came out awfully on the computer. Oh, and Liz isn't in colour, or in very good quality either.) Feedback on those would be great. Thanks. And one last thing is that... (Explodes suddenly)**


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